San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-03-02
CHAPTER VII.
AT BEAK HOUSE.

After church-attended by Dick in
compliance with what he termed pa
ternal prejudices"-a light luncheon
followed at the vicarage; then the
young man had no choice but to tear
himself away from the manifold attrac-
lions of the home circle, not less to his
personal chagrin than the despair of the
fair sisterhOod, but it had been previ-
ously arranged that the young man was
to dine on Christmas Day with his pat
ron, Sir Jasper Earle, at Bleak House,
an appropriately named residence stu
ated in a lonely spot some half-dozen
miles from Burnham Vicarage.
In this direction, then, a couple Of
hours after noon, Dick turned his
horses head, and after little more than
an hours ride passed in at the grim for
bidding iron gates guarding the en-
trance to the now drear and leafless
avenue, which conducted up to the very
doors of the baronial mansion.
To the young mans infinite relief he
found the stern old widower not alto
gether solitary; certain Doctor Hol-
ingshead, a London physician of some
note, having arrived from town the pre-
vious day in order to spend Christmas
with his old friend, and this pair of
cronies," as Dick forthwith irreverent-
ly dubbed them mentally, sat together
before dreary spoonful of fire in the
vast and sparsely- furnished library, en-
joying a melancholy tete-a-tete over
cigars and glass of sherry, when the
young fellow suddenly intruded. Din
ner had been ordered at five o'clock in
order to enable Dick to join party of
skaters upon a famous sheet of water
known as Burnham Lake, in the
grounds of an adjoining mansion,
whose owner had issued tickets of invi-
tation to the neighboring gentry, en-
joining them to make free use of his
lake whilst the frost lasted. Here the
girls from the vicarage were to adjourn
after evening service; skating by torch
light was to be de TigteIu, this long
promised al treScO entertainment having
been the theme of universal discussion
since first the ice gave hopes of bear
ing" over Christmas Day.
Supported by the prospect of ultimate
escape to this scene of feStivity, Dick
resigned himself as gracefully as cir
cumstances would permit to present
boredom, and drew in to the circle at
Sir Jasper's invitation, slipping glass
of best pale Here's, and listening in re-
spectful silence to the prOsings of his
elders.
DR.. Hollingshead was relating dreary
stories of the prevailing restitution
among the poor in town; disease was
rife, additionally aggravated by the un=
usual rigor of the season; the hospitals
were full to overlooking. and no less
than three deaths from starvation had
been reported during the current week.
1t made a man intentionally reflect
i've, the doctor added, sitting at his ease
in land of plenty, for it was surely
difficult to enjoy ones glass of wine and
Christmas fare. recollecting that at that
very moment there were thousands of
ones fellOw-creatures actually famish-
ing for mere want of daily bread,
scarce stOne'S-throw from ones
doors.
He was tolerably callous and indif-
ferent, he went on to say, after nearly
twenty years professional experience,
yet he confessed that he had been pain
fully affected before leaving town the
very day before by a certain case which
had come under his immediate notice.
A wretched woman-an Organ-grind-
er, or something of the sort-had been
picked up by the police, swooning in
the streets, and brought in due course
to st. Georges Hospital, where it had
fallen to the duty of DR.. Hollingshead
to attend her.
1.-THE poor creature was terribly ema.
ciated," he continued, land had but
three half-pence in her possession. Her
clothes were a mere collection of rags.
the skin barely covered her bones; yet
she had been exposed to the terrible
frost of Wednesday last, during the en-
tire day, and when she died, post-mor-
tenn examination proved that the stom-
ach must have been empty for days
past. The miserable wretch was un-
Willingly in the last stage of consump-
| ton; the best of nOurisnment, care, at
| tentiOn. and warmth could at best but
have prolonged her life for a few weeks
| or months at most: as il was however
! To be Continued